Wow... got our response today. D's requests were completely smacked down. No AP class allowed since it is "outside credit" (never mind that it is clearly a higher quality curriculum than they are offering). Not even the option of moving to 12th grade English, another option D put on the table.

The principal talked about her "disdain" for the curriculum and her classmates in his response. She was working hard not to sound that way in her presentation to the teacher and principal, but the teacher has picked up the vibe in the classroom that D is frustrated with the low quality of discussion (and honestly, the teacher's inability to keep a discussion moving forward productively). The principal said that she is "not listening" to her classmates -- I think she has been listening very well, and is tired of superficial, repetitive comments that the teacher allows to dominate the discussion. Sigh...

So his suggestion is that she meet with the teacher before the next quarter starts (on a block quarter schedule, so she does not have English right now) and they can talk about how D can do extra work in the class. Given the huge volume of busywork in the class, this is not something D wants to do. Plus, this teacher's regular assignments are just a bit off... they just don't make a lot of sense sometimes. D is not interested in more assignments from this teacher.

In the past I have defended the school as a pretty good option for gifted kids. They have the bullying issue well under control, and class sizes are small. They do send some kids to very good colleges. But after this and a couple of other experiences over the last two of years, I can't really support them in that way any more. D is a junior (and tuition is paid for this year), so there probably is no changing schools at this point. Sooo frustrating.

I have asked for a meeting (without D) with the principal, and may ask our Davidson contact for DYS to call him. (He had never heard of Davidson, I mentioned them when I told them that they helped us pick out this AP option for D.). I am pretty sure that the best we can hope for now is to get D transferred to the other teacher who is teaching 11th grade English this year (new teacher to the school, teaching the same curriculum as it is her first year). But my kid says she has heard that the other teacher has better classroom control.

Arrggghhh.....

Last edited by intparent; 12/13/11 05:56 PM.